Abstract
Objectives: This proof-of-concept study investigated the feasibility of using biomarkers to monitor right heart pressures (RHP) in heart transplanted (HTx) patients. Methods: In 298 patients, we measured 7.6 years post HTx mean pressures in the right atrium (mRAP) and pulmonary artery (mPAP) and capillaries (mPCWP) along with plasma high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT), a marker of cardiomyocyte injury, and the multidimensional urinary classifiers HF1 and HF2, mainly consisting of dysregulated collagen fragments. Results: In multivariable models, mRAP and mPAP increased with hsTnT (per 1 SD increment, +0.91 and +1.26 mm Hg; p < 0.0001) and with HF2 (+0.42 and +0.62 mm Hg; p ≤ 0.035), but not with HF1. mPCWP increased with hsTnT (+1.16 mm Hg; p < 0.0001), but not with HF1 or HF2. The adjusted odds ratios for having elevated RHP (mRAP, mPAP or mPCWP ≥ 10, ≥ 24, ≥ 17 mm Hg, respectively) were 1.99 for hsTnT and 1.56 for HF2 (p ≤ 0.005). In detecting elevated RHPs, areas under the curve were similar for hsTnT and HF2 (0.63 vs. 0.65; p = 0.66). Adding hsTnT continuous or per threshold or HF2 continuous to a basic model including all covariables did not increase diagnostic accuracy (p ≥ 0.11), whereas adding HF2 per optimized threshold increased both the integrated discrimination (+1.92%; p = 0.023) and net reclassification (+30.3%; p = 0.010) improvement. Conclusion: Monitoring RHPs in HTx patients by noninvasive biomarkers is feasible. However, further refinement and validation of such biomarkers is required before their clinical application can be considered.
Published Version
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